Leo Gillick
In a landmark case, New York City, along with more than 2,000 municipalities, is attempting to sue multiple social media giants for fuelling addictive traits that have resulted in catastrophic damage to kids’ mental health.
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The lawsuit comes from New York City, its school system, and its healthcare systems. The complaint seeks damages from Meta, Alphabet, Snap, and ByteDance. Among others, these companies own Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat. The lawsuit joins thousands of others in nationwide litigation in the Oakland, California, federal court.
Getting Kids Hooked: The lawsuit is claiming that social media platforms are responsible for the declining mental health of kids. The New York City published paper states that they have willingly focused efforts on making children addicted to their platforms.
- By using psychological methods, the various social media platforms have created unhealthy habits in kids. As a result, they have become dependent and now suffer because of it.
- The complaint states that the companies “exploit the psychology and neurophysiology of youth.” They have done this with no regard for the mental health of kids, and only look to make a profit with habit-forming social media platforms.
Duty of Care
As with anything inherently addictive and damaging, there needs to be some accountability. I have no doubt in my mind that social media companies are aware of how addictive and detrimental use of their platforms is, not just on kids, but on anyone.
- The lawsuit cites various studies and pieces of research. However, one of the most damning is the language teens use around quitting social media usage.
- “36% admit they spend too much time on social media, yet they cannot stop. Of the teens who use at least one social media product “almost constantly,” 71% say quitting would be hard. Nearly one-third of this population—and nearly one-in-five of all teens—say quitting would be very hard.”
New York City, along with more than 2,000 other municipalities, hopes to hold many social media companies responsible for their addictive nature and disregard for kids’ mental health.
Hard Fight: However, due to ‘Section 230’ in federal law, the chance of successfully being able to sue a tech company is very slim. The section states that tech companies cannot be held accountable for content posted on their platforms.
- This is a stark contrast to Europe, where the Digital Services Act strictly controls what children can see online.
